Mat Boyle/Washington Township TimesDemocrat Barbara Wallace hugs her grandson, John Wallace IV, after finding out she won the election Tuesday night. Wallace will be the next mayor of Washington Township.

Barbara Wallace is ready to get to work.

After the Democratic mayoral candidate garnered 6,051 votes to Republican candidate Kevin Murphy’s 5,109 — according to unofficial election results — Wallace expects to be sworn in once the ballots are certified within the next week. And she can’t wait.

“I’m just excited to sit down with the staff and council and begin working together with the residents to move the township forward,” Wallace said.

As one of her first acts as the mayor-elect, Wallace met with interim Mayor Bob Smith at the municipal building on Wednesday to introduce herself to staff members, one of her most immediate priorities.

“That’s the first thing I want to do,” Wallace said. “Then the big work begins.”

In no uncertain terms, that means tackling next year’s budget.

“I need to take a real hard look at budget and see where we can be more efficient. That’s certainly very critical.”

Despite the heated campaign season, Murphy said he enjoyed his time on the campaign trail and is confident Wallace will succeed at the helm of the town’s proverbial ship.

“I know she’ll do a great job,” Murphy said. “I’m looking forward to all the changes she talked about.”

One of those changes involves creating an advisory board to gather feedback and input from residents.

“I think we have residents with tremendous input and expertise that could be very good on an advisory board to bring me the issues of residents,” Wallace said. Creating a business development team is also high on her growing to-do list.

“What I want to do there is develop strategies to improve local conditions for businesses,” she said.

Developing businesses was one thing Murphy focused on heavily during the election and still sees as a crucial issue.

“The task is daunting for the next mayor. She has to right the ship quickly,” Murphy said. “The residents put that task in her hands and I’m sure she’ll do a wonderful job.”

Murphy, who said he was very proud of his “clean, issue-oriented and upbeat” campaign, didn’t rule out another run for mayor when Wallace’s term expires in 14 months .

“Quite possibly, we’ll see,” Murphy said when asked about a future campaign.

“Right now, (wife) Ginny and I are going to take a breath and celebrate our 22-year wedding anniversary.”

Only 11,196 out of 34,035 registered voters in the township came out to cast a ballot in this year’s election. Those that did said they were driven to out of a sense of civic duty and a concern for a variety of issues, with taxes seeming to be the most important.

Resident Barbara Rothschild said that when she votes, she partially does it to honor her parents, who immigrated to America. Her father was also a Holocaust survivor.

“When they finally got their American citizenship, they felt it was an honor and privilege to be able to vote,” Rothschild said.

She also said she sees a growing amount of apathy in the country when it comes to voting.

“’No I can’t’ has become the new chant from ‘Yes, I can,’” she said. “But apathy will not change anything.”

One thing that she thinks needs to change is the tax issue, particularly for senior citizens.

“They wonder, do they eat or do they pay taxes or do they pay for their medical needs?” Rothschild said. “And the burden is not just on senior citizens, but everyone.”

Taxes were a main issue on Cindy Campisi’s mind when she walked into the booth.

“The money could be spent more appropriately,” she said, also noting that her parents had to sell their township home because of the high taxes. “We need to do something to stimulate what’s going on. What’s in here now is not doing it.”

Many residents also made sure to bring their children along with them when they headed to the polling places, eager to make sure they realize—at an early age—the importance of voting.

“I want to teach my children that it’s a civic responsibility and not to take it lightly,” resident Cindy Ferraino said, adding that even when her children were young, their grandparents would bring them into the polling place in their car seats.

Resident Candy Barnes brought her daughter with her when she headed to the Senior Center to vote as well.